By Our Correspondent <\/p>\n
Ebonyi state government has lamented loss of billions dollars following the abandonment of Nigercem Cement factory for over 20 years resulting to the loss of huge revenue to the state, noting that the limestone deposits in the area remain viable for hundreds of years.<\/p>\n
The state government noted that Nigercem Plc, has remained dormant for more than two decades despite Ibeto Group holding about 30 per cent controlling shares in the company.<\/p>\n
The Chairman, Committee on revitalisation of Nigercem Plc setup by Governor Francis Nwifuru, Engr. Ben Okah said the original agreement was that the cement plant would be rebuilt within three years of the acquisition, but nothing substantial has happened nearly 20 years later.<\/p>\n
Okah said the prolonged inactivity had left the host communities, the state government and even investors without any benefit from Nigercem, despite the huge economic potential of the limestone deposits in the area. <\/p>\n
\u201cNigercem today is like a forest.Assets have been stripped to the bare. Cables have been dug up, equipment removed, and the place is now inhabited by rats and snakes. Some former staff have not been paid for over 20 years\u2014no compensation, no pension, nothing”, he lamented.<\/p>\n
He described the situation as \u201chopeless\u201d and stressed that the state government remains willing to support Ibeto Group to revive the company.<\/p>\n
Okah disclosed that the government has been in dialogue with Ibeto Group for about seven months, including visits to the investor\u2019s office in Port Harcourt, but said there were no signs of renewed activity at the Nigercem site.<\/p>\n
He explained that the state\u2019s decision to establish its own cement factory was driven by the high cost of cement, which is currently transported from distant states such as Ogun and Cross River. <\/p>\n
According to him, the cost of cement has continued to hamper infrastructure development in the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether Nigercem is working or not, the state wants to build its own cement factory,\u201d he said, assuring that the government has no intention of infringing on Nigercem\u2019s limestone deposits.<\/p>\n
On concerns over the proposed \u20a6150 billion budgeted for the new cement plant, Okah said advances in technology have significantly reduced the cost of building cement factories. <\/p>\n
He noted that the dry method of cement production has become the norm and is far cheaper than older technologies.<\/p>\n
He added that the project would not be purely state-driven, revealing that private investors are already on standby to participate, and expressed confidence that cement production could commence within one to two years<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent Ebonyi state government has lamented loss of billions dollars following the abandonment of Nigercem Cement factory for over 20 years resulting to the loss of huge revenue to the state, noting that the limestone deposits in the area remain viable for hundreds of years. The state government noted that Nigercem Plc, has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5879,993,5878,1204],"class_list":["post-10179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-economy","tag-deposits","tag-economic","tag-limestone","tag-potential"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10180,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10179\/revisions\/10180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}